Hassan: As a show of strength in support of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, coming days after the Congress party’s emphatic victory in the by-polls to three Assembly segments of the State, thousands of people from several districts of old Mysuru region took part in ‘Janakalyana Samavesha’ organised by Congress party with support of Swabhimanigala Okkoota, a forum supporting the CM, at Hassan this noon.

The rally was held at S.M. Krishna Nagar in the outskirts of Hassan, which is considered as a bastion of the Opposition JD(S) party for long. Hassan is also the home district of JD(S) supremo and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and the Congress has organised the rally in Hassan to take on JD(S) in its home turf.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and many members of the State Cabinet and prominent Congress leaders are taking part in the rally.

Former Minister H.M. Revanna, currently the Chairman of the State Guarantees Implementation Authority, who was the first to address the rally, recalled that Opposition Leader in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had taken out a ‘Bharat Jodo’ yatra across the country in the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Pointing out that State Government has kept its promise of implementing its five guarantees, he said that the Government was functioning in keeping with the aspirations of people.

Noting that the rally has been organised to sensitise the public on how the Congress has kept its words and promises to the people, Revanna said that the efficient implementation of the guarantee schemes have been successful in contradiction to PM Modi’s oft repeated comments that the implementation of the schemes were unpractical and would drain the revenues.

Earlier, CM Siddaramaiah, his Deputy D.K. Shivakumar, who is also the KPCC President, State Congress In-charge Randeep Surjewala and several other Cabinet Ministers including Home Minister Dr. G. Parameshwara arrived in a helicopter from Bengaluru at around 1 pm to take part in the rally. Hassan District In-charge Minister K.N. Rajanna is overseeing  the event.

Massive security

With thousands of people from six districts of Mysuru, Hassan, Mandya, Chamarajanagar, Chikkamagalur and Kodagu districts attending the rally, Police had made elaborate security arrangements by deploying about 2,000 personnel. Seating arrangements to accommodate 70,000 people at a time had been made at the venue, where three stages have been erected.